Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Mr. A's review of...Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom)

Mr. A returns to BLOW YOUR MIND!!!

The StoryAfter Earth's demise, one of the only safe havens left is the floating island of Metro City. Dr. Tenma, head of the Ministry of Science, loses his son Toby (Tobio in the original story) when a prototype war machine he created goes on a rampage. Insane with grief, Tenma enlists the aid of his old friend Dr. Elefun (Ochanomizu-hakase) in the creation of a boy robot made in the image of Toby. This new "Toby" is nothing like the original and is discarded by Tenma. "Toby", after being chased by the military who is after his experimental power source, ends up on the Earth's surface where he is given the name Astro (Atom)...and the real character development begins.

The ReviewAstro Boy isn't something you should go into without knowing the original story. A lot is going to get "lost in translation" and the fun little tidbits will fall through the cracks. Acting is alright, not incredible, but it gets the job done. The story was okay for the amount of time they had to tell it, although I would've liked to have seen the supporting characters further developed. Something that was a major bother for me is that the robot designs (save for Astro/Atom himself) are rather uninspired and Tezuka's unique art style is almost nowhere to be seen.

The VerdictFlashing lights and bright colors will keep the little ones glued to the screen, but the emotional content might not entertain a fair amount of the parents (it was enough to keep me interested though). However, if you are an Astro Boy fan or an Osamu Tezuka fan in general, it's well worth the matinee ticket price.

8/10

So that's it. There's not much to say about this film that I haven't already said in Episode 11. Stay tuned, I might do some tweaks to this review.

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What "Otaku" Means To Us

In American culture, the term otaku is used to describe a person with an interest (obsessive, for most cases) in Japanese animation (Anime.) However, in modern Japanese slang the world is used as a broad descriptor, referring to a fan of any particular theme, topic or hobby.

Specific examples include:

Anime otaku - a fan of Japanese animation;

Cosplay otaku - a fan of cosplay (a type of performance art whose participants dress themselves in the style of a particular character or idea);

For purposes of accuracy, we at The Otaku 5-0 Show prefer to use the modern Japanese usage of the word when referring to ourselves. Additionally, we feel that the American usage of the word is similar to the words dork, geek or nerd, and is thus a more offensive word when used in this context.

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